• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.699-712
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• 1996

Field scale experiments using an automated 144-channel TDR system were conducted which monitored the movement of solute through unsaturated loamy soils. The experiments were carried out on two different field plots of 0.54 ha to study the vertical movement of solute plume created by applying a square pulse of $CaCl_2$ as a tracer. The residence concentration was monitored at 24 locations on a transect and 5 depths per location by horizontally-positioning 50 cm long triple wire TDR probes to study the heterogeneity of solute travel times and the governing transport concept at field scale. This paper describes details of experimental methodology and calibration aspects of the TDR system. Three different calibration methods for estimation of solute concentration from TDR-measured bulk soil electrical conductivity were used for each field site. Data analysis of mean breakthrough curves (BTCs) and parameters estimated using the convection-dispersion model (CDE) and the convective-lognormal transfer function model (CLT) reveals that the automated TDR system is a viable technique to study the field scale solute transport providing a normal distribution of resident concentration in a high resolution of time series, and that calibration method does not significantly affect both the shape of BTC and the parameters related to the peak travel time. Among the calibration methods, the simple linear model (SLM), a modified version of Rhoades' model, appears to be promising in the calibration of horizontally-positioned TDR probes at field condition.